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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1950-01-05, Page 11fatar:0:•tL, ate, Heart t . Rending Stories Of Happenings Behind iron C „t in One of ilii lime; !earl rending stories cot rant: iro; beliitte Lite true 1 iIitaiu le tee purl!; of those se -01, - lug tit get tuts. dei thih article 1'.rf- inttnd Staten• veteran Aloseow iirrespindent u{ Tht.' `,d'irncr Nfilrlitoy now ie'ritiur: from Berlin- describe, the sad t;t.e of the hnaiau-kurli. wnuu•n whin mar- led foreigner, and w- ere denied the right to kava their colour: -eels their hu,13;01d,, .\ current \lusetr„ anerdott• con: ceras [Vas Petrovich. who to ,rut abroad 00 "hclbuutudirotia" &offi cial business assignment I. 1.1'1111, \'\lustiw, Iii. first semi, he w'ir'es the house office "Long live 1',timid, free and iudepenlent," Nest, from Prague, he wires "!song live t;zet•Iie Ii Takia, free and indeee[i• dent!" Che rdbles arc repeated in the Settle veil] a, 1'etrovielt journey, he Romania, ilulgaria. Hungary, aiccl other satellite collieries. 'Chen, after a period of Silence, conies a teeseeee from Switzerland that reads: "Long lire Petrovich, free and indepen• dent!" 'That's the last Moscow hears of this particular Ivan, tircordino to the anecdote. To Soviet wive, mf fureiguei•,, t ing for years to john their husband, abroad, to lutshands struggling to free wives and children wlmnn the Soviets claim, this story has tragic pnignancy beyond all humor. 'l'o theta the Iron Curtain is no abstract t'dntrdullian metaphor, but some- thing very Inird and impenetrable, Let the record tell the story. It includes the names of some 350 Soviet wives of American citizens who have sought permission to leave the country is the past nine years. Of these, 15 women married former members of the American l':nthassy staff in li1oscotr. Ninety-seven of the other are wives of united States veterans, Apart from the embassy cases, the great ntajority are from former eastern Poland, the Baltic states, Ruthenia, or Bessarabia, and were married before. 1939 that is to say, before these territories were annex- ed by the Soviets and Soviet citizen- ship automatically were rouferred on all the inhabitants. As the Soviet )')lion never has admitted the right of expatriation, the rule is that Soviet •citizens are a permitted to go abroad only in the interests of the government. Per- sonal reasons, however compelling, ent no ice with the 34\2D (secret police) oificials who pass on exit visa applications. evertheless. up 111til a few years ago one or two Sovietwives of American citizens were let out every year. But since August; 194e, even this tiny trickle has been rut off. In another trove in this direction, Oil Feb, 15, 11)47, the Soviet Goes comment issued a decree prohibiting Soviet citizens from marrying for- eigners. This grotesque attempt to legislate affairs of the heart is not something the Soviet leaders are Proud of or care to advertise, for the announcement was buried in the columns of the Official Journal of the Supreme Soviet. something few persons ever read. 'Co my knowledge, the decree never has been published or re- ferred to in the Soviet press et large. When t -mentioned it to Russians their first reaction was one of utter incredulity, \V hen eorrespondeits tried to send the story- abroad it was killed.by the censor. What makes this law especially brutal is the apparent intent to ap- ply it retroactively. x. x: It works like this, When a wife who has been waiting years for an exit visa goes round to the visa department for 'a routine inquiry on the status of her application she is received by -a "sympathetic" offi- cial, who, across the baize green desk top where her file folder Bets open, offers her "fatherly" advice: "Are you really quite sure you want to go to Atnoriea, citizenees?" Ile inquires solicitously, "espeeially alter the news frotn there? Why. with the crisis coming on, your hus- band may lose his job any day and you yourself be out on the street. starving.. After a pause to let this dire warn- ing sink iu, be adds: "Besides, you as a Russian will be under suspi- cion everywhere. The Un-American Activities Committee will be after you. You won't have a moment's peace. And remember, if you go, it"s for good. Never again can you set foot on your homeland," Another pause, during which the official thumbs through her file. When he resumes talking, his kind- ly tone has steeled slightly: "Cit- izeness, it may take a long time to get your e:tit permit—a long time." (Outright re use's are not in ac- cord with tuna! Soviet practice.) Then, in a more persuasive note: "You are young, attractive. Is it really worth wasting the best years of your life for the sake of a for- eigner? Is he really worth it? What's wrong with our Soviet fellows? Look around you!" Neat, with a wrathful crescendo rising to thundering climax: "I cannot understand how you, who claim to be a loyal Soviet citizen, can be prepared to renounce your birthright, to desert the socialist motherland that raised and educated you, for an American!" If, at this point, the victim shows obvious signs of mental anguis)i, the. inquisitor suddenly relents: "Here, here, Citizeness. I did not wish to hurt your feelings. I simply was trying to help you with sound ad- ' vice—not as an official but aa an older fellow countryman, Go home —think it over." AL home, the chances are that if the wife happens to live with her parents, and likely as not in the saute room, she is tate target of constant nagging. iter funnily. choruses: "It's all very well if 3011 choose to wreck your own life and queer yourself. But you've aro right to Mill our lives, By getting yourself mixed 0)) with foreigners, you've brought us all under observation— you'll get Its all into trouble. it's time to put an end to it. Forget about that America, You'll never see it flyway," Possibly, she and her faintly will also be uetCdled int s01115 way by the bots manager — registration for- malities. Few persons have the moral suun- ina to resist such browbeating hi - definitely, Sooner or later, all but the most steadfast wives have "vol- untarily" broken down and filed for divorce. le such rases, the stringent Soviet divorce laws suddenly are relaxed. A process that usually takes maty ntoittlis is completed in a few clays, The )requirement that both parties untat appear before the court is summarily waived. To crown her humiliation, the wife also is "persuaded" to write a letter to 1 ravado or Izeestla public- ly repudiating Iter husband, de- nouncing his country in the ap- proved manner and voicing her "wish" to remain in the beloved • Soviet homeland. -Things have not gone well with the few' girls echo stubbornly have clung to their hearts' desire: 'There was the Soviet ss'ife of ,e certain American foreign service officer. I1aving tried but failed to get a Sov- iet exit visa for her and their small child, he had to leave upc.n termins- tion Of his elos,•.ow assignment, Six months later the house man- eget- -a tan- eget --a profession which in Russia includes the Jetties of police intor- 'ting This Otte Out—Demonstrating' something .new in seater al iitrg, .Bud 1.85111, tnoutnted on his favorite ehair over a pair of Water dais, goes skimniitg ovet' the watsr, Bud !tar promised to try a rocking chair lashed on two sharks for tris next dcmncin- I Just Plain Pooped—l'or his alertness its spotting the human interest qualities in tiit, 101.111' told for his skill in following through With the camera, Rudolph Vetter, photographer, .was altarded a $2. prize, The attitude of the dozing damsel, 7 -mouth -old Sharon Ilat'l, shows how completely tuckered out she was after an exciting all -da.' tour of the Fair and Livestock Show. ile Tint Convicts By Louise Lee On and nu droned the voice of the prosecutor. Above hien, on the bench, the judge seemed half asleep eyes drooping wearily. At an oaken table, the defense attorney, a small, stringy man, slouched beside tate defendant. in the jury box, the jure shifted restlessly and coughed and shifted again, It was -the last day of the trial. and they were all tired, tired of the vo'umes of words that had been poured into the record, tired of the mountains of evidence that weighed on their minds, and yet receded wltetu:ver they tried to pluck from the mountain one clear fact, 0111y Juror Number hive, a woman, looked attentive, Site sat upright, shoulders independent of the s:raight-backed chair, From a distance of twenty feet she looked young, From a distance of ten feet she looked almost young. She was dressed in the relentless, gloomy perfection of the prosperous busi- ness v:ouan, Periodically her eyes shifted front the prosecutor and gated -avidly at the defendant. Juror Number hive teas Mrs, Edith Bolton, She was a Madison Avenue interior dei'orato•. The de- fense attorney knew those 'things about her, and felt he knew many more. As the prosecutor rumbled on, the defense attorney turned to the defendant anti whispered, "Re• member what t told you—keep smiling at Number Five," '(.rite defendant's broad shoulders moved irritably. "Okay." 'Che defense attorney drew in a -hoarse breath, "Butt re- member—it isn't enough that we know you're innocent. She's got to know it, too, f told you. the jury's going to listen to her. You'd better smile, boy," 1.'he defendant, charged with first-degree murder, glanced at juror Number hive. Painfully, he lifted tris lips. Edith Bolton caught elle smile and was thoroughly conscious of what had prompted it. A bribe, she thought. Oh, he': a shrewd one. user --came to the flat she sliared with her parents and announced she no longer could be registered there and Hurst move oto immediately. she pleaded that she had no- wliere. to go. the house manager sneered: "tau to the American.; they'll look after volt." .Site was given lodging and a job as houeekeeper at an embassy billet. One day' a seek later she failed to schen from a trip to the market. and has not been heard from since, The customary diplon!atie represen- tations to the Foreign Ministry have produced the customary silence. Wives of Americans and Britons are by no means the only victims of the no -exit -visa policy. The case of the eon Of the former Chilean 812 - bassador in Moscow was brought before tete United Nations, Another tss,ee itivolvad the Magee** wife of w Cheek ambassador, Ate *either istettun'e did apibaseadovlsl ratik ear'l'y ,`. ele'e -1 MI the. visa depart - men;. laTrER Outlaw Site turned quickly back to the garrulous prosecutor, tried to listen to hint, tried to wriggle away from the m )'nary of the smile. But the senile persisted, hung before her in the air—tae full, firm lips, curling a little at the edges, curling sweetly like a gir'l's , . CIletder's lips, liar's lips. Jituuty's lips. But she mustn't let herself fly oft: she must be fair. She had al- ways been fair. ft wasn't the de- fendant's fault that he looked like Jimmy, It had nothing to do with the case. She would base her deci- sion ort factual evidence, comb through the maze of circumstances, pluck out the telling fact She felt her eyes easing bad: to the defendant at the oaken table, twelve feet from where she sat. Once more site saw the thick eye- lashes, the high, unlined forehead, the disarming, wavy hair. Smooth faced, pretty -faced, full of smiles. 'l'Ite kind. who smiled from the cradle up, smiled and got what he wanted, smiled and plundered . Edith Bolton jerked her shoul- der's, snapped oft the thought. .It was her business to listen to elle prosecutor—to listen hard, with judicial ears. "And the State has shown," the prosecutor said, "that the defend- ant robbed and caused the death of a man who had befriended hint —a matt who, out of the goodness of his heart, had given him a de- cent job, started )tin[ on a car- eer , ," Yes, that was the 1'111 11 worked, You tool: the smiling charmer in, you gave hint everything in ex- change for nothing. Yon bought his clothes, rots fed him. yon putt his name on your shop window: "jetties and Edith Bolton, Decora- tors. New York and Miami." You made tip papers—"[antes and Edit), Bolton, Associates"—and in a breath's time you signed away haat tete l.tusinees you'd sweated to build. Each week you wrote a cheek for him, his share of the profits, the share for which he neter unshed, "'What do t icnow about the, faney- pantte business? Smiling. smiling. pocketing the check , But that was Jimmy. That had nothing to do with the defendant, She'd have to clear her mind. 'seep it clean and open. re, few the farts One by one 1•'art :cumber Me, 11.e• defend ant had beet] in the Artily to' three :Vat's: he was a veteran ni North Attica and i\nio. I;:,s; to in!agine him in ndifarnl, ribbons on his chest. 1,1 e1.,eas cap 2111.} 01es his forehead, over the nipping black hair , . jimmy had had ribbons, too, and a jaunty net to his can and lie had smiled at her over the heads of the pretty toting Ito,!• asses at the Canteen, And later that night, they had talked and talked, and she had been faint with delight slum he 100, 1 ,•,1 her lint the di fend:ntt. She had to. think 01' the detention!. Fact Num- ber Two: The defendant had been honorably discharged from the Arany. He had gotten a job wit!, a 1lnthing nrt11ufaetnrer, at forty-five dollar, a wet.k. Forty-five dollars wasn't cutch to live on , Jimmy had silent almost as 11111011 on a single shirt. "Forty dollars for one shirt!" She had stared at hint, waiting for the explanation that didn't conte. Just the anile, the 'hand on her shoulder, weaken- ing ]ler. "What's mine is yours, baby," tie had said, "and vice versa right? I'or better or for worse , `, ." Pact Number 'Three: The defend- ant had a Wife and child. Forty- five dollars a w eek Wa-sn't muOh for a wife and child. A coat for hie wile, the defendant had said, woollen coat to keep her warm. But his employer had caught hien in the stockroom. the stolen coat over his arm. They struggled, the prosecutor said. '.I'he employer's gun went off. 1'wo !tours later, the employer died at Bellevue Hospital. But the defense had a different story. There had been no struggle, the defense claimed. The defendant had started to rout from the stock- room, '['lee employer ptn•stted !limo gun in Irani. At the bottom of tate stairs, the defendant turned, said, "Okay—I give up." but it was too late then. The employer had tripped—conte tumbling down the stairs, and his gun went off. Wert could prove the defendant hadn't wrestled with the )liar)." Who could prove the defendant had in- tended to give himself up? Theta were no witnesses. And the story about elle coat— a coat for his wile. !'hitt was a. shrewd excuse. designed to snake the jurors' heart swell with pity. The innocent, uplifted fare, the dangling forelock. "1 wanted warn) winter coat for 01y wife ..." Tltey knew' how to find excuses, the smilers. With Jimmy it had been hie mother. Willett the sheclr- ieg account was overdrawn, it had been for Inc mother. When he got a bank loan he could never pay back, it had been for itis mother. His mother—who was slim -waisted and blonde and twenty-two. What did he give her now? \\'hoot was he robbing now for his mother; )'The defendant Inas a ;lean rec- ord," the defense had said. Excel- lent character, the Arany records had claimed. A f',te boy-, the char- acter witnle„ehad added. Devoted to his Witt., the derenrbnvi's neigh. hors had agreed. But what did neighbors know? "Von and Jimmy make such a, sweet ;°elite,” her friends had said so often --_tier older friends, that is. Tiley Were the ones he didn't smile at, the one; who couldn't possibly know the night- she spent listening to ('1, ugly flippancies . and worse, Ow alone , Btu she heti m 11x;1; h, the plc, seettior. lc - seetttor. The pro-evtnor's Moire was high. indignant, as if he knew she was slipping away from hie,, t?dith Bolton straightened. tit ifulle fast- ened her eta, on hi:. ve- hement 1a, r "We hate only the drend:uiI's word," 111,' prosecutor said. We bare old.% 111e delemleut's word -- the word of an admitted thief - a4aill,t 11', tent- tangible evidence °t death, 1)1w mach can ye.n trust the word of a mean w1;n wold it steal from an employer who had been kind to hint, en,'eedingly gen- erous to hem " Edith fallen[-, glanced pall Atte aga;it H! 11,1 1.,• , anti at', kiet;da '±'It` +a pale e' .l, ti I ..:f r ! •,) A 's•.x,o „t!: chit 4e;it'i.a•n, ansa afraid , 't•' •.ro "'Loot., ant! en[ '1155 he y;„iaig i •,n. t`,... t171[ 15l nets ou 'LL)!11 :,iRfi horse. Poe Irvtrte .)L' for e; *vise. tt1 cit ins°.: 'I lie lett • 1t,ti s wlte vz„ 1."i',14 at 010 nettsli,itnt Edith ttolvort ,tW the t4 ci:nmt l''ti wnrshipni;i:.c. , 1.',r!init eves. \ionic, 11>td a(wa35 1001.1.°S roar way at jniutty. Everywdreee. always. The enstOntete in fuer 01%) 51121)). The trine stupid assistant de:eur:L- tot•, The veggie:ti • avericittu 1 alt) boyar ---etre!, the aevertteeti-year- old emelt girl with the haltg:Wg slip, the run-down heels. Biel, cit poor, rheumatic or infantile, they a11- looked at jimmy.. But she +tart to stat, st1'ayiegt iedi1b Bolton' told herself sternly She mustn't thin!) of Jiutll,y in the back of the shop, the stock: girl in his arms. She musn't. think of anything now but this trial. There eras a decision to malts • there was no time left for debat- ing or wondering. lit five or ten mantles the tu•oeecutor would end his summation. '.flee jurors would retire. They 170111d listen to het, because she was the strongest. She wasn't tired at 01. They complained of elle heat; she didn't even feel it , , Detennittdedle, elm leaned for- ward, surveyed the courtroom. She glanced at the judge, at the droop- ing tipstaff in the corner, Her eyes travelled to the defendant, and then to the table with its pile of State's evidence. 01105 again, site checked off each artiele, weighed its sig'• nificance. The tagged, greasy gran Ole fingerprint charts which proved nothing , . , the groat. The coat for his wife, 1t was a sturdy-. coarse-grained. wool. She knew fabrics, could ap- praise their value to the dollar„ Thh•ty-five dollars. retail, Com- pletely styleless, a reroltieg c1'or. She had always hated fire,enp,itte red„ - Site stared at the coat Ser moment, and then, with a sheep ing, victorious feeling site couldn't explain, she looked at the d•`c11(1- 5ot'a wife. 'The wontati had hoe, frizzed hair ---orange red. But he wouldn't do tient Hee mind closed in on the thowtitt, clamped around it. He w I eheet. give a redhead a red coat! \ot the defendant—he'd know better than that. Even if he were stealemg, even if he were pressed for Incin, he wouldn't pick a 'red coat for e redhead. He'd !snow better .104 kind always did. 'There night bet conte then who wouldn't but not the defendant. He'd know. 11e'd kno:r, her mind insisted. Yoe could tell by looking at his lace, at the fickle, thick -lashed eyes, :Ile quick, jaunty smile. He'd he just the kind who would know about yeomen's clothes, tate way 1!e knew about women. She was sere of it.. He'd be the kind W110 170111,1 ha proud of his taste. arrogant 160ut it. Like [iterate, A coat for my wife. 01. he had been shrewd, !die defendant. .tie had almost convinced her. lint tits coat hadn't been for his wise at all. The fire -engine red coat had beet, for some other wtnra;- • someone younger, s'linnner waisted, someone blonde - , i lar. Liar iron, btsginaing to 611 ,1 1laving ;rade up Iter mini. Edith. Bolton didn't bother to listen to the final words of the prose. utot. She sat back in her 0ltair, feeling; light attd easy. And not at all bitter, she told herself—not at all like a woman who had received her inat diens," r1,• , e itt the n.ern:,,_ Weapon Wedding tt 11err ick. 1". a bride of one ti;ty„ sparge• d that her Intel ,faith Francis 1'- Byer;, 211. of Dui Moines. lit., n,rced her to 111111 V lout at gnu] point. Beers said she eloped ttith higi to 'I el.;l.- lnah, \,•Lr, si11it1 t', NM, TAKIGJITTRR Ou AND 'VRAct,144441 Hie DAHOs' t MIME. YOU'LL DANCE' 'Malta THE LtiA0- ]tts Mel PLAYS THE WOO o1eAN NOW TuAN THE CRANK WN1LE r 6O 91451I YOlbe YOUTft t' ra1147L1Mpt - Otm PANCe IslesC1OR !s A144) Est RT.,, STIP INTO THEAU8IIoRIVM AND WA7CH NIM, IN ACTION_:), - '�'1 By Arthur Muter % AlCANWNlLS 'Itin 55005055 tsireRvlaws 151. GEN1'LEN.0N oe 7145 PREs0 . , ..